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Symptoms of sluggishness and hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism or hypothyroidism is defined as a decrease in the amount of hormones that the gland secretes.

A person suffering from an underactive thyroid may not show signs in the advanced stages, but symptoms begin to appear as the condition is delayed.

Symptoms of hypothyroidism

• The most common signs that indicate a deficiency in thyroid function are an increase in the patient’s weight, or a feeling of pain in the bones and joints.
• It may cause infertility in the affected person, and it may also lead to some heart disorders.
• This condition is detected by a number of tests and analyzes that diagnose an underactive thyroid gland and its deficiency.
  • The treatment is carried out by the doctor determining the dose that suits the patient’s condition.

See also: Causes of hyperthyroidism

Signs of an underactive thyroid gland

There are several signs that may appear in a person with an underactive thyroid, and these signs gradually increase over time until they reach severe symptoms.

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The simple symptoms that appear at the beginning of this problem are an increase in the person’s weight, a constant feeling of exhaustion and fatigue despite the slight effort he makes, and if the affected person’s burning becomes weak.

Symptoms of hypothyroidism

It may result in some chronic health problems, and the most common symptoms that indicate hypothyroidism are the following:

• Feeling stressed and tired.
• If the environmental temperature is low, the person suffers from allergies.
• Difficulty defecating.
• Skin fatigue and dryness.
• Noticeable obesity.
• Facial swelling and puffiness.
• Weakness of the body’s muscles.
• The affected person’s voice is produced with noticeable hoarseness.
• Decrease in heart rate.
• Hair breakage and loss.
• Heavy menstruation, and its monthly frequency becomes irregular.
• Swelling in the joints, which may cause severe pain and become stiff.
• An increase in cholesterol above the normal level in the blood.

Signs of a child having an underactive thyroid gland

There are studies that have shown that the most common cases of hypothyroidism are women, especially after they reach thirty years of age.

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But this does not mean that the disease is limited to women only, but this gland dysfunction may affect everyone, including men, women, and children.

It is worth noting that a child may be born without having a thyroid gland, and there are children who are born when the doctor notices that the thyroid gland is not performing its function as it should.

The most common symptoms that appear in newborns that indicate that the child is exposed to an underactive thyroid gland are the following:

• Jaundice is a condition in which the skin appears yellow and the eyes appear white.
  • The newborn often suffers from this problem when the liver cannot do its job, which is to destroy bilirubin.
• Which leads to its storage inside the body, which causes red blood cells to break down.
• The newborn’s tongue droops as it swells.
• Shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.
• The child’s navel is exposed to hernia.

Problems that appear in children due to the thyroid gland

The newborn may be exposed to other health problems if this problem is not controlled.

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Which may cause a defect in growth and nutrition as it should, and among the signs that may appear with the deterioration of the medical condition of a child who suffers from hypothyroidism are the following:

• An increase in the number of normal sleeping hours for a newborn baby.
• Difficulty in the bowel movement and severe constipation.
• All the muscles of the child’s body become weak.

If the parents neglect to treat the newborn child for this thyroid dysfunction, even if the matter is simple.

This may result in many problems, the most serious of which is the child being exposed to mental retardation or a defect in his physical stages of development.

See also: How to read a thyroid analysis?

Signs of an underactive thyroid gland in children and adolescents

The signs that appear on a child or young teenager with an underactive thyroid problem may be the same signs that affect adults, women and men, but there are some symptoms that may be greater than the symptoms of adults, which are the following:

• The child suffers from a growth disorder and is weaker than the normal rate, and this leads to the child being exposed to short stature.
• The child’s brain is delayed in development and becomes weak.
• Teenagers may have delayed puberty.
• The child’s permanent teeth are delayed in development.

When should a thyroid patient undergo a medical examination?

• If a person feels constantly exhausted when doing any simple effort, or notices some symptoms that may indicate an imbalance in the body, such as constipation, gaining excess weight, or yellowing and pale skin.
• Also dry skin, swelling and puffiness of the face, or change in voice tone, he must go to the specialist doctor immediately.
  • If the doctor prescribes treatment for thyroid dysfunction with hormonal medications.
• He should visit a doctor soon to ensure that the specified dose is correct, safe and effective.
  • The dose may be changed after a period of continuing treatment.

Don’t forget to read: The effect of pregnancy on gland sluggishness

Causes of hypothyroidism

• When the ability of the thyroid gland to secrete hormones at a sufficient rate decreases.
  • This may lead to an imbalance in the chemical reactions that occur within the body and cause an imbalance.
• The most important causes that lead to glandular insufficiency are: Either the person has problems with his autoimmune system.
  • Or he took large quantities of thyroid-stimulating medications, or he was exposed to radiation or had thyroid surgery.

Location of the thyroid gland

The thyroid gland is located in the first part of the base of the neck, which means that it is under the Adam’s apple. It looks like a butterfly and is small in size. It secretes two hormones:

1. Triiodothyronine hormone.
2. Thyroxine hormone.

The importance of the thyroid gland

Thyroid hormones play a major role in the metabolism process, and are also responsible for a number of vital body functions, such as heart rate.

and body temperature. Hypothyroidism may occur as a result of a group of factors, which we will mention below:

• Disorders in the autoimmune system This factor is the most common cause of hypothyroidism.
  • Scientifically known as Hashimoto’s inflammation of the thyroid gland, it is a disease to which the autoimmune system may be exposed.
  • It may occur if the immune system secretes antibodies, which leads to these antibodies attacking all tissues of the body, and the attack may reach the thyroid gland.
• There are no studies that confirm this happens, but it is likely that a number of factors, such as the body’s genes and environmental triggers, may cause this.
  • But it is certain that the thyroid gland may hinder its function as a result of the effects of antibodies on it, which affects its hormonal secretion.

Harmful effects of excessive thyroid medication

Excessive intake of thyroid medications if the person suffers from an overactive thyroid gland, which leads to an increase in its production of hormones.

This matter is treated either by using iodine, which is radioactive, or this hyperactivity is controlled.

By taking anti-thyroid hormone therapy, the purpose of this medication.

It is to control thyroid activity and restore its ability to control the secretion of hormones at a normal rate.

However, sometimes treatment, while correcting hormone production, may cause the production to fall below the normal levels of hormones, which may ultimately lead to permanent thyroid dysfunction.

Methods of treating the thyroid gland

• When there is surgery in the event that a small or large part of the thyroid gland was removed, or it was subjected to surgery previously.
  • This may lead to the thyroid gland stopping its hormonal secretion function.
  • This problem is treated by determining an appropriate dose of thyroid hormone that will be taken throughout one’s life.
• Radiation exposure during treatment if the person with an underactive thyroid gland has previously been exposed to cancer, whether in the neck or head.
  • He treated this disease using radiation, as this may be a major cause of a person suffering from hypothyroidism.
• Treatments: A person may take a specific medication without consulting a specialist doctor if he feels a problem or specific pain.
  • This may negatively affect the function of the thyroid gland, leading to a deficiency in the production of its hormones.
  • There are also people who take medications for health problems and take them excessively.
  • This is an important factor in causing an underactive thyroid gland, and one of the most famous of these medications is lithium.
  • It is prescribed for patients who suffer from depression or other psychological problems.

The few possibilities that lead to a person suffering from an underactive thyroid gland

• Congenital disease: There are a number of children who, when they are born, discover that the doctor has a defective thyroid gland, or that he does not have a thyroid gland.
• There may be several reasons why a child’s thyroid gland does not develop normally.
  • But the most common cause may be genetics and a family history of thyroid problems.
• Infants may not show symptoms indicating that the child has an underactive thyroid gland.
  • After birth, these children appear to be normal children, and for this reason many states have required analyzes and examinations of the thyroid gland and its hormones for newborn children.
• Problems and dysfunction in the pituitary gland: The pituitary gland may sometimes be exposed to a benign type of tumor.
  • Which leads to the failure of its important function in secreting the normal amount of hormones that control the stimulation of the thyroid gland.

Don’t miss reading: What is the treatment for hypothyroidism?

Various causes of thyroid disease

• This cause may be uncommon compared to the causes that lead to hypothyroidism.
• Months of pregnancy: Many pregnant women after the third month are at risk of developing an underactive thyroid.
  • The infection may occur after birth, due to the body secreting antibodies to their own thyroid gland.
• If you do not immediately go to the specialist doctor to take the appropriate dose of thyroid hormone therapy.
  • Which will control the gland’s secretion of its hormones at the required normal rate.
• It will lead to health problems for the woman that may ultimately lead to her miscarrying the fetus, or her being subjected to an unexpected (premature) birth.
• Or to pre-eclampsia, which is known as pregnancy exposure.
  • High blood pressure in the seventh, eighth, and ninth months of pregnancy.
  • This may cause a disruption in the normal growth and development of the fetus.
• Low levels of iodine. The mineral iodine is found in many seafood.
  • Also in seaweed and in plants that grow in soil full of iodine salt, and iodine itself.
• Iodine plays an important role in stimulating the thyroid gland’s production of its hormones, and if iodine in the body decreases below the normal rate.
• This will result in hypothyroidism, however, if the percentage of iodine in the body exceeds normal levels.
• It will also lead to increased thyroid sluggishness in people who already suffer from this problem.
  • Many people may suffer from low iodine all over the world.
• But when the United States found a solution to this problem by putting iodine in table salt.
  • This actually eliminated that problem.

Risk factors for an underactive thyroid gland

People of different ages may be exposed to hypothyroidism, but there is a group of groups who become more susceptible to this problem, and they are:

• Women.
• People over sixty years old.
• People with a family history of thyroid problems and disorders.
• Also, people who have digestive disorders, or who suffer from type 1 diabetes.
• People who have been treated with iodine beams, or who are taking antithyroid treatment.
• Who has been exposed to radiation, whether to the upper chest or neck, during a certain treatment phase.
• People who have had surgery or complete or partial removal of the thyroid gland.
• Pregnant women over the third month.

Complications

There are several problems that may affect a person who is not interested in treating hypothyroidism, the most important of which are the following:

• Increased size and enlargement of the thyroid gland if the function of the gland increases in its secretion and production of hormones.
  • This may lead to swelling, and this is scientifically called goiter.
  • This inflation causes the patient to feel discomfort, whether while breathing or swallowing.
• Heart disorders: There is a direct relationship between an underactive thyroid gland and heart problems.
  • This is because if the level of bad cholesterol in the blood increases, the possibility of a person suffering from hypothyroidism increases.
• Psychological disorders: People with hypothyroidism in the early stages.
  • They may be more susceptible to depression, and the condition worsens over time, as well.
  • Hypothyroidism may cause the functional functions of the mind to be delayed.
• Nervous system diseases: One of the problems that may be caused by untreated underactive thyroid is damage to the peripheral nerves in both the legs and arms.
  • The function of these nerves is to transmit information from the spinal cord and brain to the rest of the body.
  • This may eventually lead to tingling, numbness, and severe pain in the affected limbs.

Other signs caused by hypothyroidism

• Myxedema coma if hypothyroidism is not controlled with treatment and the duration of the infection is prolonged.
  • This may lead to a condition known as myxedema, which is a condition where the body becomes intolerant to cold temperatures
• The desire for drowsiness for long periods, and in severe cases the patient enters a coma.
• Infertility is when the thyroid gland fails to perform its functions. This may negatively affect the ovulation process.
  • Which may affect fertility and cause infertility, and problems with the autoimmune system may also lead to infertility.
• Congenital disorders if the pregnant woman suffers from an underactive thyroid problem and does not care about treatment.
  • This may expose her fetus to congenital problems, as studies conducted on pregnant women suffering from hypothyroidism have proven.
• Pregnant women have healthy thyroid function, while those born to pregnant women with hypothyroidism.
  • They may be more susceptible to congenital problems than children of women who have a healthy thyroid.
• These children may also develop mental disorders and developmental abnormalities.
  • Newborn babies may experience problems with… Mental development And the physical.
  • If hypothyroidism is not treated in their first months.
• If they are given the correct treatment, they will grow properly.

See also: How to completely remove the thyroid gland

At the end of our topic today about the symptoms of lethargy and…Hypothyroidism Every person who feels one or more signs of an underactive thyroid gland that is performing its functional tasks and producing hormones normally must urgently undergo a medical examination.